UPDATE, 12-11 -- Two contributors posting comments, below, offer rich insights into Big Apple history and the current show. You read it here. Others are encouraged to add their comments.
Some snippets out there ...
Paul Binder! At last, a Paul Binder sighting on his Facebook, with ... drum roll! ... Yes, the great Tito Tito! (last name, Gaona) Paul's lively book about sea lions, the weather and his Big Apple Circus days coming out soon in audio, to the voice of Glen Close. A big coup, Paul! Where have you been?
Some happy fans at Culpepper & Merriweather midway. Looks like you had a good time!
Ringmaster Venardos and his charming little circus. This one would wow the one-ring heart of Big John Strong.
Royal Hanneford swinging through November. Boy, does that look fun!
Arms up at UniverSoul
Circus Vargas, still on the road, so I'm hoping they return soon to the Bay Area.
Nik's Big Apple Circus at Lincoln Center. Little media evidence -- so far.
So, we ain't doing so bad, you'd agree?
11.22.21
6 comments:
The Big Apples little ensemble of unsmiling, bleak performers. LOL. Yeah THAT will draw them in.
who are you? I am only running your put down because the show has gotten zero reviews, from what I can see, which does not bode well. You do sound bitter, suggesting sour grapes.
Send me who you are, DID YOU SEE THE SHOW, AND WHEN?
If not, I may delete you.
It doesn't matter whether you delete my comment or not. There is a complete lack of understanding about what Big Apple at Lincoln Center was all about, and what made it successful. Firstly, it was part of traditional Christmas performance atmosphere that included Radio City, The Nutcracker and pantomime. Colorful, plush, storytelling and theme. It was the prestige that Big Apple got at Lincoln Center that followed them into the upscale markets they played during the season. It was the support of the arts organizations and the sponsorship of major New York based corporations that bolstered that prestige and put it in league with ballet and opera. Binder was the darling of the well heeled arts crowd. A position Wallenda could never fill. It took a small army of front office people to shmooz the donors and backers who brought it to the status it had as THE BIG APPLE CIRCUS. The themes were sophisticated and International. Themes around Carnival in Venice and the impressionist painter Serat weren't shows intended for a parking lot in Oklahoma. THAT is the reason the press even bothered to send a theater reviewer to cover it.
You, and others may be critical of Soleile's weirdness, but it's what people want, not the tired vaudeville/talent show format of American Circus. Those who pine for old time circus are a handful of old fans who wouldn't fill the annex tent at Paul Binder's Big Apple.
What possible attraction could this version of Big Apple have. A collection of America's Got Talent type acts - and not even that. What is so amazing about a wire act with performers with 30 ft balance poles, a rolla bola act, a hula hoop performer and a two man risley act? Come on! Zero spectacle, no ring full of tumblers, no unique Asian or Russian acts, no cohesion. This is freaking NEW YORK - entertainment capital - Broadway, Ballet, Opera, Madison Square Garden and countless small theaters and live entertainment venues.
He would have been smarter to bring in an entire Mexican Circus and appeal to the large Latino population in NYC, than the Lincoln Center crowd. At least the Big Mexican shows are exciting and innovative.
I can assure you, that if anyone does venture into the BAC big top, it will be the last time they do. Wallenda (actually his last name is Troeffer anyway)is a hype - built up to fill a slot in TV prime time. There is nothing new about an act that hasn't changed since his grandfather came over from Germany God knows how many decades ago. It is incredible hubris that made him think he'd be an attraction working 20ft above the ring in NEW YORK. Can you imagine his act working in Monte Carlo (which is the caliber of Acts that Binder brought over)
That you are even perplexed that there is no New York Times review is perplexing. What is there to review? The final nail in BAC's coffin. Put a fork in it.
Many good points. If I sound "perplexed," since I have not seen the show, I have no sound reason to critique it other than a skeptical attitude, expressed here, going into this date. I do not pass judgment on a show I have not seen. And I am not sure you have, either. The total lack of NY reviews and media attention is ominous.
I have to agree with a lot of the previous review. Although there are some stellar solo and duo acts, the show is ONLY solo and duo acts apart from the wire act, which is made extremely cringe-worthy by Nik's several interruptions to show video and speak on mic to the audience. It's as if he didn't want any bigger group acts to upstage his wire act, which is regrettably stale and much smaller than we have seen from him in the past.
It's all made worse by the suspicion that he is doing nothing but alienating his neighbors in Lincoln Center by his Page Six video, hollering about discrimination and unfairness, when it's now obvious that he turned a mistake into a tasteless publicity stunt. His claims that Lincoln Center has been "our home" for so many years ring hollow coming from the man who only bought the company this year.
Seeing t-shirts for sale in concessions with his face on them really drive home the fact that this is the Nik Wallenda show, not the Big Apple Circus.
so very interesting. Have we something of a thread going here? Looking at the line up when it came out, I was bothered by a feeling of too many solo acts. and one, a single trap, with a mechanic; I also wondered if this was a kind of vanity production-ego trip for Nik. The role of producer is very different from that of performer. To my knowledge, he has never produced, an art that requires several skills that elude most.
It does feel like the city has turned a cold shoulder on this edition.
I still wistfully wait for Paul Binder to return! Seeing the circus in Queens in the spring as an idyllic pleasure.
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